


How to Seize an Architect

by phoelynfabulous



Category: Subnautica (Video Game)
Genre: ? - Freeform, Angst, Apparently Jeff doesn't have a tag?, Attempt at Humor, Contains spoilers for the old story of Subnautica Below Zero, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Is there a tag for funny but not like 'dont take this seriously' funny?, Not really sure what else to tag, Their last names got changed recently and I'm gonna use the new ones, There probably won't be TOO much violence, but just in case, i think
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23895361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoelynfabulous/pseuds/phoelynfabulous
Summary: a.k.a. I'd Love To See You Try.Robin Ayou and Serik Jevov are under arrest. Seems fair enough.Al-an is... also under arrest.Maxim is furious, the marines are tired, Jeff is still missing, Robin is amused and Sam just really doesn't want to be here right now. It is not a simple 5-step process.
Relationships: Al-an & Robin Goodall, Robin Goodall & Sam Goodall
Comments: 14
Kudos: 83





	1. Step 0: Debriefing

**Author's Note:**

> I don't expect anyone to read this, but I love Subnautica, and Below Zero, and what there is of the new story, so here, take a fanfic.

“Sam. I have something important to tell you.”

“What is it, Robin?”

“I've.... I've been harboring the living Architect."

“...Yes Robin, we know that already. Jevov told us, and we'd been keeping a close enough eye on you to tell anyway.”

“Well neither of you can take this moment away from me! They come in peace, they only really want to learn about the things around them. Maybe they'll study us. We've become friends, and because we're friends and I'm the only one fluent in their language, that practically makes me an ambassador. Do not harm them, they will not harm you.”

“As glad as I am to hear this from you, I don't think it'll stop you from being under arrest the moment the shield falls.”

“Eh. It was worth a shot.”

“Any reason you wanted to mention this now?”

“I'm going to lower the shield.”

\-----

The moment Robin lowered the shield, the director came on the radio. She'd been expecting it, but she'd still hoped he'd change his mind.

“Robin Ayou and Serik Jevov, you are under arrest for the illegal use of alien superweapons and harboring an alien fugitive. Do not resist.”

Jeff shouted something incoherently angry over the radio. She couldn't tell if he was more angry at her or the director.

“You two will be brought onboard the ship and imprisoned. Your tools will be seized. Your bases will be seized. Your Architect will be seized. Your resources-”

Robin blinked and interrupted him. “Sorry, _what?_ ”

“Do not interrupt. Your resources will be-”

“No no, I just- _my Architect will be seized?_ ”

“Yes. Your re-”

“ _How?_ He- they're a person!”

“Individuals can also be seized.”

“Well, sure, I guess, but I still don't know how you plan on doing that...”

Robin couldn't see the director, but she could just _feel_ his smug grin.

“We know everything about the Architect and everything you've been doing with it. Jevov awoke the Architect in Research Site Zero, and when you communicated with it, it was transported to Sanctuary Zero. From there, you learned it was being held in a sanctuary and visited it. You established a hidden, remote connection to the Architect and follow it's orders like a mindless drone. It whispers things to you, powerful secrets, and you obey it's every command. We will take the data from the sanctuary and take it's knowledge from it by force.”

... _You're wrong about more than half of that,_ Robin absolutely did not say under any circumstances. She did not tell them about how the Architect daydreamed for fun, and couldn't comprehend a video playing on her PDA because his senses weren't the same as hers and he wasn't able to see the 2D video as a 3D concept – supposedly, he insisted, because his senses were far superior to hers. She definitely didn't tell them that the all-powerful, nearly godlike alien just so happened to be named Alan.

She also didn't tell them that she had built a body for him, and therefore he would be much, much more difficult to seize.

Instead, she simply said, “I don't think that'll be as easy as it sounds.”

She could practically hear the director pout at his failed attempt to intimidate her.

“Oh, but it _will_ be easy. It's a five step plan. Seize the fugitives, find the Architect, seize the Architect, bring the fugitives and the Architect onto the Vesper, and imprison the fugitives. Profit.”

“I feel like that plan lacks detail.”

“It doesn't need it.”

Robin considered arguing.

Then she thought about what it would be like to see this plan in action.

They'd arrive and arrest her. Fair enough. But they planned on bringing both fugitives and Al-an on board at the same time, likely to save trips, so they'd keep her there as they searched for Jeff... who was in the next sector over, supposedly.

Given his ability to activate the shield that she could deactivate from the mountain base, it was likely that he was here and had thrown his tracking device into the current to be carried to Sector 1.

So they'd have no idea where he was. They'd have to search the entire sector, and if he wasn't here, they'd have to search all of Sector 1. Then 2. Then 3. They could end up searching the whole planet.

Assuming they skipped that part in favor of finding the Architect, there was a new problem.

They did not know that Robin had moved Al-an.

So they had _another_ search to do after checking the Sanctuary. Robin tried not to laugh at the thought.

How many Architect bases were there? How many did the team know about? She knew they were unaware of the Fabricator Base, that's for sure. So if they did figure out that there was a base down there, the next issue would be the shadow leviathans... and the resources.

She tried to imagine the amount of marines it would take to subdue Al-an. She remembered painstakingly creating depth upgrades and perimeter defense modules for her seatruck. She remembered creating the seatruck itself, then the modules that they'd probably want – docking modules, fabricator modules, possibly even teleporter modules for the travel. How many seatrucks would they need? They'd need to double, triple, quadruple the amount of supplies Robin had used.

And then they'd need to subdue the all-powerful Architect.

She didn't know what weapons Al-an had at his disposal...

But, even though Robin wasn't super into physics, she knew that fast things were very deadly. If you throw a bullet at someone it'll do nothing, but if you launch it from a small explosion and it lands in the right place it can kill someone. Vehicles hitting people kills them.

She remembered reading somewhere that a deer could go from 0 miles per hour to 45 miles per hour in a few seconds. She knew that a horse kicking you in the head could be fatal too.

Al-an tends to go from 0 miles per hour to a speed so fast he leaves afterimages in his wake in less than a second. Robin didn't know how much he weighed, but from his height, his footsteps, and the fact that he was made out of ionized plasteel, she could assume he was as heavy as a prawn suit.

His senses, or sense, worked in such a way that an ambush was impossible. Al-an could leave nothing but red dust where a person used to be, just by running at them. The thought made her shudder.

She calmed herself by remembering that Al-an could likely subdue them peacefully too, considering that he could lift her without even touching her.

She reprocessed all this information.

And laughed.

And laughed and laughed and _laughed_ until the director had completely lost his composure and was shouting at her to shut up.

“Please, _please,_ there's absolutely no way your plan will work. _No way_.”

“Y-yes it will!”

“ _I'd love to see you try._ ”


	2. Step 1: Arrest the Fugitive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam hadn't wanted to go, but she was glad she did... no, that's overstating it a bit. She wasn't glad, she just knew it was something she had to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello yes my computer scared me today, I think it might be dying. Here, take four thousand words while I worry about my laptop's lifespan.

“Sir-”

“Take ship three with the nurse.”

“Why am I-”

“You're going on planet with us to wrangle your _sister,_ Ayou. Now get to your ship.”

“I have no formal training for on-planet-”

“You'll figure it out, now _get to your ship._ Maybe I'll consider a promotion for you if you follow my instructions on the first try for once.”

“Yes, sir.” Sam said to Director Maxim, who had already left for his own ship. Her hands were shaking, and she was sweating a bit. None of the marines seemed to be this nervous...

...but perhaps that was because their sisters hadn't told them about every horrible thing that lived on the planet.

She took a deep breath and made for ship three.

\-------

They landed where the base for Research Site Zero was supposed to be, before the avalanche had taken it.

That was to say, they landed on a hill of snow and ice, with a small pool of nearly-frozen water at the bottom and a couple paths leading to an Architect base. It was odd to think that underneath this hill was a base and vehicles, posters and coffee and a greenhouse. She tried to remember the last time anyone was in it. Sam supposed that the last person to leave it's walls would've been Robin.

A communication tower had fallen over into the lake. If she remembered correctly, that was what had originally broken the ice and lead Robin into her new life of survival.

It was surreal, to be seeing everything that was normally described to her by her excitable sibling.

_It's really cold. Did anyone think to bring winter gear for this?_

“Alright, team! We make for the research site on the hill, it's where our future prisoners should be waiting for us. Move out!”

The troops all made off towards the Architect base, trying not to slip on the ice while still looking serious and determined.

“Do you really think they'll be waiting there?” asked the friendly doctor she'd shared a ship with – she couldn't recall her name at the moment.

“No.”

The doctor tilted her head at her, but after the hike...

“Typical,” said Maxim, glaring at the area devoid of future prisoners, “just typical. Resisting arrest.”

He really was cross, even if this was to be expected. They'd had to make their way over a pile of fallen rocks that had obscured the path, making this take even longer than it should've.

“Alright then, we head back to the water. That's where one of the fugitives escaped on foot, we know exactly where her lifepod and base are, so she should be easy to find. Move out!”

And so the marines made off again to the lake.

“Sir! How should we-” asked one very unfortunate marine who was close to the water's edge.

Maxim shoved him into the water. “ _Get swimming!_ If the language nerd could do it _you can too! Go go go!”_

Sam stayed away from the edge of the water. She would happily be last, even if Robin said the water was warmer, she was _not_ getting shoved into the absolutely terrifying unknown depths, _t_ _hank you very much._

The doctor she'd come with also seemed extremely nervous.

“What is it?” she asked.

“If they thought to bring me, it means there must be something that can hurt people down here somewhere...”

She decided not to tell her that she was right.

Another problem occurred to her as she watched the line get shorter and shorter. When they were kids, Robin already enjoyed swimming – she'd happily dive into ponds searching for frogs and fish, and after about thirty seconds, she'd resurface and tell Sam all about the weird-looking reptile she found.

Robin could hold her breath for about forty-five to fifty seconds, and was athletic enough to swim decently fast.

How long could Sam hold her-?

She found herself in the water before she could finish that panicked thought.

She quickly brought her head back above water, silently cursing Robin's definition of 'warmer', taking a deep breath before going back under.

Black and blue rocks lined the entrance of a small underwater cave that seemed to lead out into the open ocean. Marines were swimming through the cave with ease while extra staff struggled through, trying not to panic or lose their breath. Sam came back up for a little more air, swam above water to be closer to the cave entrance, and took the dive.

… _1... 2... 3... 4..._

She tried to convince herself to stop counting the seconds. She swam in clear, strong strokes, trying not to waste any energy by panicking. She tried not to think about the fact that she couldn't come up for air. Mostly, she tried to focus on the form of the person in front of her and follow along.

… _22... 23... 24..._

Her lungs burned. She just kept moving forward.

Someone who wasn't a marine seemed to be completely panicking next to her, their face red and eyes wide. They didn't seem to be a very good swimmer. The troops ignored them.

_This is a bad idea,_ Sam thought to herself as she decided to help them anyway. She held their arm in one hand and pulled them along with her. Her lungs ached for air, and they were fairly heavy. She could just barely see the cave's end-

… _29... 30... 31..._

Sam surfaced and gasped for air.

She pulled her passenger along with her, and they let out a series of choking coughs. Marines breathed heavily.

Maxim himself surfaced too. He wasn't any more graceful than the others, frantically swimming to the nearest chunk of ice to cling to.

There was a brief head count as everyone caught their breath.

“Next time,” gasped Director Maxim, “there will be oxygen tanks.”

\-------

Waiting.

It felt like all she had been doing, this entire time, was waiting.

It wasn't, really. She'd been catching and curing fish, stocking up on water, recharging and crafting batteries and power cells... she'd even fabricated an extra oxygen tank to carry on her to switch to if she really needed it.

She'd removed some of the windows on her base. There was still a believable amount, but she wanted less visibility on her hiding space.

Mostly, Robin just lied in wait.

Waiting.

...

“ _You are stressed-”_

Robin jumped a bit, cursing under her breath. “Al-an.”

“ _My apologies.”_

She'd created a proper body for him, but the length of time he'd stayed in her head had caused some changes for both of them. She found herself still able to telepathically communicate with him, sometimes even able to start the conversation herself. Al-an had retained Robin's emotions, to a very slight degree. Enough that he found it annoying.

The combination of telepathy that she didn't understand and emotions that he didn't understand lead to Al-an feeling Robin's emotions and complaining about it. Often.

“They'll be here any minute now. I saw them land.”

“ _You should not need to feel any distress about it. You are intelligent and quick. I am the same.”_

“How kind of you. Unfortunately I don't know how long being smart and fast will hold them off... in my case, that is.”

“ _I will assist you if need be.”_

“Don't. They don't know you have a body yet. Might as well keep that a secret for as long as we can.”

The lights at the edge of her vision swirled into a kind green color. “ _Like I mentioned earlier; You are intelligent.”_

Robin smiled and found herself alone again.

Waiting.

\-------

Maxim smiled wide at the site of the sprawling base in front of them.

Sam stared in awe. _My sister built all this? It's beautiful..._

Before them was a large room, with multipurpose chambers rising from each corner like the towers on a grand castle. There was a moonpool on either side, likely in use by Robin's prawn suit and sea truck, considering the modules without a cockpit nearby. On top of the multipurpose spires were observatories. She could see alien containment units through the glass windows.

They resurfaced. “It's like a castle...”

“It's unnecessary is what it is. Search the base, try the windows first so the door doesn't alert her.” Maxim grinned with a very punchable 'I've-got-you-now' expression.

Sam stayed above water while the marines began their search. _Please, please don't be in there..._

She blinked. Robin had committed a crime. Of course she should be arrested. Right?

A marine resurfaced, quickly followed by several others. “It looks to be empty, sir-”

“Then go in!” shouted Director Maxim, going under, likely so he could do it himself.

Sam let out a sigh of relief. She wasn't quite sure why, though. Just because Robin was her sister didn't mean she didn't do something wrong.

Maxim swam down to the hatch at the front and pulled it open, stepping inside.

_Hmm. The base computer should've announced my arrival. If it didn't, it could mean that there's someone else in-_

He jolted and yelped as someone darted into his vision.

A beat had him realizing it was Robin Ayou – exactly who he'd been looking for, and expecting.

Another beat had him realizing she didn't look happy, and was holding something.

In short, it took him two seconds to realize he was staring down the barrel of a stasis rifle, and that was two seconds too long.

He blinked, his radio buzzing with sound, “-left through the moonpool with the sea truck in it, hooked it up to the other modules and is getting away!”

Maxim cursed and looked out a nearby window to find several marines desperately swimming after a fast-moving truck. How long did it take her to do that? How much time had he just lost?!

He immediately began shouting into his radio,

“ **DON'T LET HER GET AWAY!** ”

He watched several marines flinch from the sound before seemingly swimming harder.

He growled and pounded a fist against the window as he realized they simply wouldn't be able to keep up.

“Nevermind. Regroup.”

He tried not to sound too defeated.

\-------

Sam had to hold in her laughter, because if she didn't the Director would probably kill her.

Maxim had decided to set up base in Robin's... well, base. The resources within it and around it would be enough to gear up the team with basic oxygen tanks, and some with rebreathers and seaglides.

Honestly, Sam was just impressed with her sister. Both with her base construction skills, and her daring escape.

She had briefly ducked her head under to take a look, only to find a stasis field around the hatch and a seatruck afterburning away, several marines looking on in shock before going after it.

The thought almost made her laugh again. She kept it together. Robin was in _so much trouble._

A marine came in through the hatch. “Sir, we've located the tr-”

“Where is it?”

“That's the problem – in the lilypads, about four hundred meters down.”

Maxim's eye twitched. He slowly turned to look at the unfortunate marine, who started to look nervous.

“How far down can we go with our air tanks.” It was barely a question.

“...About two hundred meters, three hundred with a seaglide. And that's if we intend on not coming back up.”

There were a few moments of silence. Sam slowly covered her ears.

Director Maxim's enraged shout rattled the windows in their frames.

Everyone got to take a small break to plan and rest for the night, while some marines worked night shift to get at least one ultra high capacity tank. The messenger marine was among them.

Sam decided to take some of her precious free time to explore Robin's base. After all, she seemed to have spent a lot of time and care on it, so Sam felt the need to see every inch.

The fish held in the spires were interesting. A sea monkey and an arctic ray were the only ones she could recall the names of, but there was also a sharklike creature with an oddly-shaped mouth, a four legged fish with sharp teeth that made a lot of noise, and a small blue shelled critter with three eyes.

Searching around the large room, she found the area where Robin must've slept. It was walled in, with a bed and an aquarium for smaller fish. A little heat plant in a pot decorated the top, along with a small stack of papers.

Sam wasn't sure how Robin got the paper – creepvine maybe? - but on closer inspection found that it was a stack of drawings.

The first paper looked like a self portrait, with a small drawing of Sam on the side too.

The second paper had a series of sea creatures, all of which were labeled – Arctic Peeper, Triops, Trivalve, Hoopfish.

The third paper showed the sharklike fish from the tank, and an odd plant with a mouth and four tentacles sticking to the ground.

The fourth paper featured a Sea Emperor Leviathan, and a close up of it's face.

The fifth paper was a drawing of a person she'd never seen before, with tattoos on her face and a Snow Stalker at her side. She seemed old, and serious. Sam wondered where she'd gotten the idea to draw this from.

The sixth paper held a boxy lobster looking creature with huge arms, and a long, eel like fish with a mouth like a centipede's legs. Some crystals were drawn next to the eel.

Finally, the seventh paper had some oddly rectangular shapes jutting out of the walls, and a creature that didn't even look like it was from the same planet – a centaur with no face and large horns. It was decorated with armor and stripes, and she had taken a purple highlighter to some of it. It was almost abstract compared to the others.

Sam placed the drawings back on their shelf. She hoped she didn't have to meet any of the creatures Robin drew.

\-------

“Alright! I have an idea.”

The troops and staff were all having breakfast while Director Maxim informed them of the slight change of plans.

“Sam Ayou!”

Sam jolted up and nearly spit out her meal, “Yes s-?!”

“You will take the new ultra high capacity tank, a seaglide, and a rebreather, down to your sister's seatruck and convince her to come with us!”

Sam blinked. “How do you think I'm going to convince-”

“She's your sister! Of course she'll listen to you!”

“...You're an only child, aren't you?”

Oops.

Had she said that out loud?

Everyone was staring at Sam in awe, shock, or concern. Maxim's eyes looked like they would pop out of his head with how he was staring at her.

“...I will go convince Robin, sir. My apologies, sir.”

\-------

_I don't like this. I do not like this. I dislike this. I hate this. Why._

Sam had been outfitted with everything she'd need for the trip down, except for a single ounce of courage and maybe some comforting words. Four hundred meters was a long, long way down, especially when you've never been scuba diving before and you're on an alien planet with creatures straight out of your nightmares and you don't know where they live but you know they're down here _somewhere._

Maxim was glaring at her. She didn't need him to shout to know that he was very angry and expected her to start swimming _now._

Sam desperately tried to steel herself, and went under.

She _immediately_ came back up, “No-”

“Ayou. _Now._ ”

“I can't see _anything_ down there, it's just a void-”

“ _ **Now.**_ ”

Sam took a deep breath and went back down.

The big, blue emptiness beneath her wasn't any more welcoming than the first time, but she had no other options, so she began diving. She wondered if it would be better to close her eyes, but after briefly trying it she decided it was much, much worse that way.

She gripped her seaglide tighter and eyed her oxygen gauge nervously. Two hundred seconds left. Three hundred meters to go.

Sam could see signs of land below her now, fish swimming around near the lilypads that had failed to float to the surface. She could see sand, and rocks, and the headlights of a seatruck deep down below.

She motivated herself with the thought of seeing Robin again, fugitive or not.

When she was almost there, she wasted a bit of her precious oxygen shouting in alarm as a figure darted out from underneath the truck. She was dressed in gear similar to hers, except she had flippers and a proper wetsuit, unlike Sam and everyone else who'd been brought down from the Vesper, ignoring very important things like oxygen tanks and winter coats in exchange for getting there as soon as possible. She also seemed to know what she was doing, holding her seaglide close to her body and maneuvering it with one hand, while her other hovered over her holstered stasis rifle. The hiss of her oxygen tank indicated she was taking slow and steady breaths to conserve oxygen, despite the extreme pressure she must've been under that caused Sam to take rapid breaths.

Her face was obscured by a rebreather, but the blue streaked ponytail was a dead giveaway.

Sam waved to try and show Robin she was friendly, realizing that if _Robin's_ mask made her difficult to see, so would Sam's.

It seemed to confuse her. She seemed to search Sam for weapons before tucking her seaglide under her elbow and signing something.

It would've been helpful, if Sam could speak sign language.

_Beep-beep!_ “30 seconds.” her PDA helpfully chirped.

Oh.

Robin seemed to hear the message, looking up. Sam made the terrible mistake of _also_ looking up, which made her realize just how far away the air was...

She shrieked – again, a waste of air – when she was tapped on the shoulder. Robin gestured down towards her seatruck and sped off towards the hatch.

Sam had no choice but to follow her.

Upon entering the seatruck, Robin immediately ripped off her mask to stare at her incredulously. “Sam?!”

She took off her own mask. “Robin!”

Sam almost began a long-winded rant, explanation, or lecture, but she was interrupted before she could begin by a hug from Robin.

“I missed you.”

Sam was frozen for a moment before she returned the hug. Only for a few moments, as she had to interrupt with “Okay, I love you too, but my ribs really hurt, so please stop squeezing me.”

Robin separated from her with a giggle, “Aw, not used to the water pressure yet?”

“I hope I don't have to get used to it. Look, the director sent me down here to tell you to come back up.”

She rolled her eyes. “Not gonna happen.”

Sam sighed. That was about what she expected. “If you come back with us, you'll get a fair trial, with the best lawyer I could possibly get for you, even if it takes all my credits. Jevov's stunt will definitely attract more attention than talking to the alien, which is _your job,_ so you might end up okay...”

“That's still a _might,_ though. I'm sure the director will also be hiring his best lawyer, just so he gets what he wants.”

“Robin, please. If you want any chance of coming back to Alterra, you'll have to take this risk.”

Robin blinked. There was a change behind her eyes, as though something had just become so clear to her, it was incredible she missed it in the first place.

“...Robin?”

“I... don't.”

“What?”

“I don't want to.”

“You don't want..?”

“I don't want to come back to Alterra.”

The two sisters stared at each other in a new light.

…

…

…

“...What... what do we do then...?”

Robin looked like she might cry. “I don't know yet. I just- if I come back... I don't want to come back to Alterra. I think... I want to stay and work with A- the Architect. Maybe- because, Alterra isn't supposed to keep this kind of thing secret, right? They can't just hide spacefaring aliens from people. And if they do, and it gets revealed, and _then_ it gets revealed that they tried to _hide it,_ there'd be- riots. Chaos. They'd crumble.”

Robin brightened up a bit. “Maybe I'll do that, then. No more secrets. I'd tell the world everything. I'd use- The Architect, though, to send that message, because Alterra would censor it or twist it, and-”

She turned back to Sam to find her staring at Robin like she was a new person. A stranger, scaring her with conspiracies that would've just as easily come from a madman.

“...It would work,” Robin reminded, “and the fact that it would work means there's something so, so wrong. They've built up so many lies that revealing them would crush them completely. You don't... still side with them... do you?”

Sam said nothing, still overwhelmed.

“...I'm sorry. It's not- there's no sides. I've been reminding Al- the Architect of that, he thinks we're enemies because you're 'with them', but there is no them, there's only us. I'm still with Alterra, technically... I just need things to change. Lots of people do, I think. Including you. Sam...”

…

“Sam, I'm sorry.”

…

“When- when I fix things... we'll be able to talk more! The way they limit communication, it's inhumane, don't you think? That'll have to change...”

“Robin.”

“I know I know, just- let me- I can fix-”

Sam hugged Robin. She held her close.

Together, they were quiet for a few moments. At some point, Robin began to cry.

“I'm sorry, nevermind just- things can stay- or- I mean- I don't know what you want, I just-” she squeezed her tighter, “Don't leave. Don't leave me.”

“...I won't.”

Robin looked up at Sam.

“I'm... confused, and afraid... I had no idea about all the things that were happening on this planet. You've changed so much. You must be... passionate about this. Determined. I don't think I could do that. I'm not even sure I can _think_ about that.” Sam took a deep breath, ignoring the pain it brought her. “I don't really know what I want either. And I definitely don't know what you want- or at least, understand why you want it. But you're my sister... and I trust you.”

Tears welled in Robin's eyes again. They held each other and cried, together.

After a few minutes, Robin sniffed and pulled away. “Alright then. New plan. I'll go with you, let Maxim arrest me I guess. I don't think he, or any of his marines, can actually stop me from doing... _anything,_ really, even if they take everything I own and put me in handcuffs, I can outsmart them, outspeed them, and break free. So fine. I'll let Max have his illusion of victory.”

Sam smiled and shook her head. “You're crazy.”

Robin only laughed and pushed past her to the seatruck's steering wheel. “Buckle up, here we go!”

Sam looked around, confused. “Robin, there are no seats for me to-”

Robin started the truck, pointed it straight upwards and activated her afterburners, leaving Sam to cling desperately to the walls and try not to scream.

\-------

Finally.

Finally!

_Finally!_

Maxim knew his troops were staring at him with an extreme concern, but he just couldn't care less as he laughed and laughed, hoping that the whole planet could hear his victory cries.

“Robin Ayou! You are under arrest!”

“Yes, I know, I've been in cuffs in my base for two hours.”

“ _I've got you now!_ ”

“Yup. You did it! Go you.”

“I've done it. I've _finally won!_ ”

“Yeah!”

“ _Yeah!_ ”

“Now all you have to do is find Jeff and Al- The Architect and arrest them both!”

“ _ **Yeah!**_ ”

…

“...Wait-”

Maxim processed the statement. He turned to Robin to find a very cheeky grin on her face.

“Sorry. Don't let me take away from your victory! You did it!”

It had taken three days to arrest Robin.

He'd expected to be back on the Vesper in one, maybe two.

…

A sinking feeling of dread in his stomach said he might be here for a while...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sam's description and fear of the Blue Void Of The Open Ocean is based on how literally every youtuber who's played Subnautica I've ever watched starts off being SO AFRAID of the areas that open up and what might be in them. Only two of them had a genuine phobia of the open ocean but they all acted the same way. Just "NO."


	3. Step 2: Find the Other One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search for Serik Jevov begins. This might take a while.

“Alright! Using satellite imagery, PDA data, and firsthand accounts from Ms. Ayou-”

“You're welcome.”

“-we have a simple map of Sector Zero as we know it. Now, we can use this data and basic deduction to figure out the location of Serik Jevov.”

They'd been on the planet for five more days just working on this map. When Jevov had awoken the Architect, he left behind his marker, deciding that the Architect was worth more than anything Alterra had to offer him in that moment. His GPS in his PDA was located after Robin found a base of his – it said he was in Sector One. However, a brief investigation after his stunt with the quarantine shield revealed that he'd removed the tracker at some point after he was found, leaving it in Sector One and making for Sector Zero. There was one other way to find him, and that was through his communications radio – the one he'd shattered shortly after Robin disabled the shield, but not before getting in a few angry parting words.

So somewhere on the planet were three tracking devices not attached to the person they were meant to track, and that person had the ability to travel between sectors.

To prevent Director Maxim from completely losing it, it was decided that all of Sector Zero would be searched first. And if they couldn't find him... they'd leave him to the leviathans while they went onboard the Vesper.

Still on patrol, as it were.

With this timeline of events constructed, and a map of the area also constructed, it was time to begin the search for Serik Jevov. For his own sake, if no one else's.

“Alright, you four-” he gestured to four marines, “-are Alpha One. And you four are Alpha Two, and so on and so on, get into squads of four!”

Maxim turned. “Micheal Souza, Doctor Deern, Robin Ayou, you're with me. Alpha Twelve.”

Sam and Robin both looked up. “Wait, what?”

“You heard me! Now, everyone come here and pick a spot on this map. If you don't pick in five seconds I'll pick for you. Alpha Twelve will go to the glacial basin and arctic spires to search that old bunker. Alpha One-”

Robin met Sam's eyes and raised an eyebrow as Maxim continued to give out positions. Sam only shrugged.

“Any questions?”

Robin raised her hand – both hands, as they were cuffed together. “Yeah, aren't I under house arre-”

“You will act as our informant, and as such, _will_ be joining me in Alpha Twelve. Any more questions?”

There was silence for a moment until another marine raised their hand, “Yeah, are there any levia-”

“Move out!” the director shouted, interrupting the unfortunate marine.

As Robin was pulled to her feet, she caught the marine's attention. “Psst. Where to?”

“Lilypad outskirts.”

“The only leviathan out that way is a Sea Emperor.” She gave a friendly smile. The marine seemed visibly relieved.

“Hey, hey,” another marine whispered over to her, “how about the purple vents?”

She winced a bit. “Chelicerate. Should be fine if you don't get too close. Be cautious.” It had actually taken Robin a while to know that there was anything more than cryptosuchus in the water with her in the purple vents, until she'd been swimming around for fragments and heard the hiss above her.

“Thermal vents?”

“Cryptosuchus, they sound scary but they're not too threatening, a good kick will stop a bite.” When Robin had swum to the thermal vents, she'd heard a roar so great that she'd feared Sea Dragons, or something equally as large, had taken up residence in the area. Nowadays she'd make fun of the cryptos' roar and mock the way they swam, flailing about with four finned legs.

“Lilypad islands?”

“Lilypaddlers. They're a bit like mesmers, but not predatory, just defensive. Don't look and don't listen.” Her first encounter with those had been _terrible,_ she hadn't expected anything when she swam over to get some rubies, only for her to end up so dizzy that Al-an had to remind her which way was up so she didn't drown in her panic.

“Robin,” Sam called, “Tree spires?”

“There's-”

Maxim tugged her along, “Less informing them, more informing me! We'll take your truck.”

Robin looked over her shoulder at Sam and tried to look worried so she'd get it. Based on Sam's expression, she might've overdone it.

\-------

_There's something out here. Where is it. There's something here, but what? We're not alone. There's something-_

“Ayou? Are you feeling alright? You look a little pale.”

Sam looked up. The marines on her team were much kinder than Director Maxim, and she was sure they were capable of defending her and her fellow staff member on the team... but the fact that she didn't know what they might be defending her from was making it hard to have any faith in their abilities.

“Robin didn't get to tell me what was down there...”

The understanding marine smiled reassuringly. “If you want, you can stay up here for a bit while we do a basic search.”

Sam felt just a little cowardly as she nodded. She felt bad for them, but she felt like she was the last person who needed to go down there now that Robin had already been taken into custody.

As her other team members sank below the waves, she continued to cling to the stable piece of ice, watching them leave.

…

…

...Now what.

Sam glanced around and pulled up her PDA, deciding to catch up on some databank entries and other such reports. She couldn't help but feel lazy, but the thought of getting up and joining them created a pit in her stomach. She stayed.

She checked Jeff's trackers again, finding them to be in the same places they'd been left: Research Site Zero, Sector One, Offline.

She blinked in realization.

There was a history feature. She could check where they had been _before_ they'd been left behind – except for the unsalvageable radio, which would've been the most convenient choice.

She immediately began her search, checking the day that Jevov awoke the Architect that indirectly created this whole mess. All the trackers were in the same place and moving, as they should be. Jeff set down the marker at the research site and settled down at Robin's soundboard.

It had been a device she'd created that linked up to the facility itself. It used light, sound, and electromagnetism to mimic an Architect's speech exactly, and with it hooked up to the whole building, they could use it to input commands into the main computer and change things.

Unfortunately they didn't know any commands. Sam was sure Robin had perfectly memorized the Architect words for “Invalid Command”.

Jeff sat and tested different words and word combinations for several hours until they were approaching the time that Sam sent out the evacuation alert. Suddenly, he jumped up as though startled and looked around, alarmed or confused.

Sam wished there was some kind of video or audio feed, but the only real data she had were Jeff's movements and his PDA's basic environmental scans. Checking on those, it stated that the processing power in the facility had noticeably increased.

Jeff ran off, seemingly glancing at his tracker before leaving it behind, setting off towards the base.

Sam already knew what she would find upon switching to Robin's data for the same date and time, but it was still impressive how they perfectly passed each other, with Jeff taking the path that goes down to the lake and Robin walking up past the heat flowers. Robin entered the facility, looking around before jumping a bit. She took note of Jeff's tracker and abandoned PDA data before reaching up to her radio to speak with Sam. She took one last longing look at the facility as she ran towards the exit – only for her PDA to give a warning of impending danger.

Robin jumped back. Then clambered over some newly fallen rocks to the lake path.

Sam switched to Jeff's perspective, remembering her goal was to find Jeff, not Robin.

He had run up to the base, into an escape ship, and hesitated. He was technically supposed to wait for Robin, or go pick her up preferably, and then make for the Vesper.

Instead, he launched the ship and made a wide turn, passing over the lake path that Robin had been sprinting down and heading further into Sector Zero.

Sam watched with bated breath as Jeff flew higher as though to get a better view-

Suddenly he began spiraling around uncontrollably in the air while his PDA warned of critical damage.

The meteor shower. He must've been struck.

He turned to the glacial basin and crashed hard in the snow.

He rushed out in a hurry – his PDA said there was fire – and stumbled into the frozen wasteland, making towards the water-

The information cut.

Sam stared blankly at it and tapped at the screen a couple times.

...Right. The damage to the Vesper and communication towers. Flicking to Robin's data for the same timeframe yielded the same loss of information.

Skipping forward to after Robin had fixed the tower revealed his tracker over in Sector One, stationary. He must have decided on his betrayal during the blackout.

Dammit!

There goes her own little safe search.

She sighed and switched back over to Robin. She was currently in the glacial basin with the director and the rest of her team. Who was it again? A doctor and another marine?

She idly flipped through Robin's history – down in the lilypads, hiding stationary in her base... she snickered at the thought of her lying in wait the way she was.

For some reason, Robin seemed to be startled by something, but didn't look around for the source. She just settled back into her spot. Hmm.

Sam flicked back a few more times. Over at the research site, likely disabling the shield. Back in her base again. Out in the water, probably chasing fish for food from her movements.

In her seatruck, heading back to her base.

Hmm. Where had she taken the truck?

Sam flicked forward a little to find her... in the same biome Sam was in. Tree Spires. Huh. But still heading back.

Another flick forward revealed Robin about seven hundred meters down.

_What._

Sam was... pretty sure that the tree spires only went about four hundred meters down. Perhaps there was some kind of mistake?

Robin's PDA said that there was something big, dangerous and alive down there with her. A leviathan? Was this what she was trying to warn her about? It had rated it at about sixty-seven percent dangerous. Yikes. Much too high for Sam's liking.

Sam raised her eyebrows when she realized that Robin... was _still heading back to base._

One more flick forward.

Nine.

Hundred.

Fifty.

Meters.

_Robin, why?!_

To Sam's relief, Robin was no longer traveling home. No, she seemed to be having a grand old time outside of her seatruck and beyond it's crush depth. Her PDA still had a lot to say about the leviathans outside – _multiple_ of them!

Robin's PDA still had more news to give, it seemed.

While the leviathans all around her were rated at a terrifying sixty-seven percent, there seemed to be something much, much worse down there with her.

For some reason, it was designated both as 'alive' and 'unstable high power source', like an Architect artifact that could breathe. It was smaller than the leviathans, but it had to be at least double Robin's height.

Ninety-eight percent dangerous.

Sam stared in horror as Robin seemed to be perfectly comfortable next to this living nuclear bomb.

At least it wasn't moving.

Sam put away her PDA, filled with much more dread than she started with, the last non-terrified thought in her head being _hey, how come Robin never went up to her truck for air? That was several minutes, no way her tank lasts that long._

Sam looked down at the water of the tree spires.

She hadn't wanted to go down there before because she didn't know what she'd find.

Now that she found herself aware, she _really really didn't want to go down there._

…

…

A marine came up for air in front of her and she gave a startled shriek.

“Woah! You okay, Sam? Didn't mean to frighten you, hah.”

“I'm fine,” she squeaked out, very not fine.

“Alrighty then. Oh, by the way, we found what Robin was gonna warn us about!”

“What?”

“Yeah, there's a couple chelicerates down there, and this cool jellyfish thing called a ventgarden! Pretty safe otherwise, the chelicerates barely notice you 'cause there's so much room to avoid 'em. You wanna come with now? We need to do a more detailed search.”

Sam blinked. “A Chelicerate is only rated at forty percent dangerous.”

The marine seemed confused and laughed nervously. “Uh, yeah. Only? That's pretty high, don't you think?”

Sam only nodded.

\-------

When Alpha Twelve had arrived at the glacial basin, Robin immediately noticed something off.

“Hey, there's supposed to be a ship there.”

Maxim granted her just enough patience to look over at the mound of snow Robin pointed to – with only one hand, as she had been un-cuffed in the name of the mission - before shrugging it off. “So?”

“So, it was Jeff's ship, he crashed it, and it's gone now.”

“What does that mean?”

Robin seemed annoyed at Maxim, raising a hand and opening her mouth as though to deliver some important information, then stopped short. “...I don't know. Something, probably.” She seemed more annoyed at herself now.

The director rolled his eyes. “Right. Where was the bunker again?”

“Over near the entrance to the ice spires.”

Maxim glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow. “You seem awfully willing to give away the location of your accomplice. How do we know this isn't a trap?”

Robin raised an eyebrow right back at him. “He isn't my accomplice, he's a pain in my-”

The marine jumped back at a falling icicle and bumped into both of them, sending Maxim sprawling on the ice while Robin just barely remained standing. Maxim's glare caused the unfortunate marine to retreat with his tail between his legs to the back of the party.

“...Besides,” Robin continued, “it's not very safe over by the ice spires, and he probably knows you're all looking for him, so it makes no sense for him to come back.”

“You went back to _your_ base even though you knew we were after you, so it makes sense for him to do the same.”

“That doesn't change the fact that it's extremely dangerous.”

“How bad could it be?” Maxim scoffed.

Robin glared. “There's a ninety-five meter tall levia-”

“I don't care.”

Robin was so dumbfounded at Max's sheer stubbornness that she just had to stop and stare wide-eyed at the stupidity of bringing along an informant and then telling them to shut up when they tried to give you important information. He carried on ahead of her.

She hoped he got eaten by an ice worm. At least it would be funny.

“You really think he won't be here?” The doctor asked.

Robin shook her head. “There's no way he'd come back-”

A beaten-up escape ship suddenly flew over them, circling overhead before speeding off to the spires.

The team stared blankly.

…

…

“...Okay. I'm sure he has his reasons for coming back. Not like it would've been smarter to stay hidden and let you guys search the whole planet aimlessly. Nope, just gonna make it clear exactly where he is...”

Robin stomped off in the direction the broken-down ship had flown.

When Maxim collected his jaw off the floor, he was nearly vibrating with excitement, a huge grin on his face. He _sprinted_ past Robin, shouting behind him to hurry up the whole time.

The other two team members looked at each other before speeding up to a jog to catch up to Maxim.

Robin continued seething at the back of the line. _Idiot. Always has to make my life so much harder. Evacuate to the Vesper? Sorry, I woke up the Architect and now I'm taking the last escape ship. Befriend the Architect and almost ready to start with introductions and diplomatic meetings? Sorry, just gonna incriminate you and your Architect buddy by using his weapons to do a little biological warfare. Need you to buy me some time by hiding away during the search for you? Nope, just gonna come back to my last known location and do a little fly-by, no biggie._

As she glared and ranted to herself – or perhaps to Al-an by accident, given the swirling reds at the edge of her vision warning her to calm down – it occurred to her that it might be hard for Jevov to land in the spires considering that the worm would hear the vibrations of both the landing and the running engine against the ice.

As she listened to the echoing footsteps of Maxim and the rest of her team, she realized she'd need to hurry up-

Oh.

It would definitely be easy to land if Maxim's over-excited stomping covered up the sound of the engine. It would be even easier if the ice worm wasn't even listening for Jeff while it enjoyed a nice hearty meal of marine, doctor and director.

Robin started full-on running after them. The prospect of Maxim getting eaten due to his own ignorance was much less funny now.

“Hey- wait! It isn't safe!”

She slammed into Maxim right before he could enter the spires and they both fell to the ground. Robin stood quickly-

Looking at Maxim's face, she could tell that he was practically about to blow a fuse. She decided to speak quickly.

“You can't just run in there, it's not safe, you'll die, plus it might be enough for Jeff to escape if you time it poorly enough, there's a predator-”

“ _How dare you?!_ ”

He hadn't listened to any of it.

“Attacking me, preventing me from arresting your partner in crime?! We know where he is and we're going to go get him _no matter what you say,_ now shut up and sit down. Micheal! Cuff her to the wall or something! We can arrest Serik Jevov without her now.”

Robin was very happy with the fact the that marine, Mike, did not do that. Maxim had turned away to walk into the ice spires area, assuming that the marine would just follow his every command – a fair assumption, except that Mike had been listening to Robin's warnings.

So Maxim stomped angrily into the spires. His footsteps thumped heavily against the ice, and the sound echoed off the glacial walls.

Thump, thump, thump.

Robin winced at every beat.

She didn't warn him. If he wouldn't listen, he would learn.

The doctor eyed Robin worriedly. The marine stood with a hand hovering near her wrist in case he actually needed to stop her.

Thump, thump, th-

A roar echoed in the distance.

Director Maxim froze. Robin's fellow team members held their breaths. Robin hadn't noticed, but she was holding her breath too.

Maxim turned to look at them. For a moment, he seemed nervous.

His expression steeled and he scoffed at them. “Well, whenever you'd like to join me then!”

He continued to walk forward, his steps a little less forceful.

Unfortunately in order to avoid an ice worm you had to stop walking altogether, or tiptoe, and Maxim suddenly began running back screaming as a long crack in the ice seemed to chase him.

He leaped towards them as they all took several steps back, and the Ice Worm surged through the ground and towered over them, it's shriek filling the air and sending chills up their spines.

Max hyperventilated as it sunk back down.

There was a brief moment of calm. Before the storm, as it were.

“What,” began Maxim.

His expression slowly morphed from scared out of his mind to unfathomably angry.

“ **WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT THING?!** ”

“...An ice worm,” Robin stated simply.

“And _why,”_ Maxim emphasized, “didn't you tell us it was there?!”

Robin glared at him so hard that he shrunk back a bit.

“Four.”

“What?”

“I tried to tell you four separate times.”

Maxim was quiet.

Eventually he cleared his throat, “Well, why d-”

“You interrupted me _every single time._ ”

Silence.

Blissful silence, in Robin's opinion.

“So here's what we're going to do,” Robin began, deciding that since Max was such an idiot, she'd have to take the role of squad leader, “grab as many little things as you can. Bits of ice, rocks, snowballs, even heat fruits. Fill your pockets with 'em. And while you're doing that; tiptoe. Learn to keep your footsteps completely silent. Play a game of redlight greenlight with yourself so you can completely freeze on command. And _then_ we go into the ice spires. When the worm hears us, we freeze and throw something far away. It'll attack the rock or whatever, and while it's doing that you're free to run. Then when it goes back under, walk quietly again. Alright? Good. Get to it. We have to do this quick, or Jeff will leave, and if he does there's _no way_ we could ever find him again.”

Maxim watched with some level of awe as the two others did exactly that. They began gathering up little things while very gently placing their feet on the ground to move.

“How did you do that?”

“Do what?” Said Robin as she gathered up her rocks.

“You got them to do what you wanted so easily!”

She seemed smug. “Don't do whatever you were doing before, for starters.”

Maxim scowled. He was definitely a better director than she'd ever be.

He went to go pick up stones.

He did not acknowledge that he was doing what she told him to. She was just... informing him of how to effectively deal with an ice worm, and he was taking action as a result.

He grumbled to himself as he took ever-so-gentle steps.

\-------

Robin took a deep breath, as though she were about to go diving in the fabricator caverns. This was stressful enough with one person – for her to ensure the safety of the whole team, she'd need to be at her best.

She looked back at the team in question. Yup. Everyone involved seemed to be pretty stressed out.

“Ready?”

They looked to each other as if someone other than themselves knew the right answer. Eventually, Maxim nodded.

“Alright then. Let's go.”

Robin wished she could power walk into the spires with determination, but tiptoeing would have to do.

Every time one of her team members would take a slightly louder step, she'd flinch and pause, but she doubted they'd have to do much running away in terror with how well everyone was doing. Maxim must've done some good with his little stunt, as it put just the right amount of fear into them.

As they stepped into a clearing, a choppy roar filled the air.

Still and silent.

Robin's eye was drawn to a slight movement in the ice. She took three rocks from her pockets and threw them, one at a time, into the distance with increasing power. The stones skipping along the ice gave the impression of a small, sprinting creature.

The ice worm popped up and shrieked, striking at nothing and facing the wrong way.

Alpha Twelve _ran_ as far into the clearing as they could before the worm sank back down. Then they were still again.

“Is there a better way to do this?” Maxim asked, trying to sound intimidating but he was breathless and afraid.

“A bit late for that question. There's another way, but I don't think it's better.”

“Well?”

“You can take a snowfox and try to outrun it the whole time, but it can feel the hoverjets on the ice so it always knows where you are and comes up constantly, and you just barely outpace it so you can't ever stop moving. So you can be horrified, or you can be terrified. I think the terrifying way is safer, but you can pick your poison I suppose.”

She began moving again.

“What's the difference between horror and terror?” the doctor of the team asked. Robin happily answered any questions she had as they carefully skirted across the dangerous biome.

After a few more run-ins involving tossed items, they came to another clearing.

Robin's eyes widened.

Serik Jevov stood on top of a glacier, his ship parked next to him.

Robin gestured for her team to hide and stay quiet. They did so immediately, likely fearing ice worms.

“Jevov?!” She called out.

The marine had to desperately shush Max when he nearly shouted too.

Jeff smiled gleefully. “Robinka! I've been looking for you!” He gestured her over.

Robin glanced over at her team. She turned on her radio, linked to their comms, and whispered, “I'll keep this on so you can hear everything. Stay and wait.”

She still wished she could dramatically power walk over, but this was still ice worm territory. She liked to think her carefully laid steps relayed her vengeful rage.

When she came to the tall chunk of ice at the center, Jeff lowered a ladder for her. “Come on, can't have you down there with the leviathan! I need to speak with you!”

“I need to speak with you, too.”

They were face-to-face for the first time in months. He was smiling brightly, but Robin kept her face neutral.

“The Architect,” he whispered, “Do you have it?”

Robin scoffed. “What, do you think I keep him in my pocket?” _Please don't know where I kept him, please don't know where I kept him, please..._

Jevov laughed a bit. “No, I suppose not. He is a he? That is interesting. We should go together, figure out a way to trap him, or make him comply in some way.”

_What._

“What?”

He tilted his head. “Alright. There has definitely been a misunderstanding. You lower my shields when I raise them, go where I can't follow when I need you, and remove the Architect from a location I am well aware of to a new, unknown one. We must communicate.”

“ _I_ make things inconvenient for you? You're the whole reason I was stranded here in the first place, not to mention the shield incident!”

“You don't like my plan?”

“Jeff, I don't even know what your plan _is._ ” She said exasperatedly.

He smirked. “Well, based on what we know of the Architect, it is all-powerful. Incredible ship-destroying lasers and worldwide shields, not to mention the small artifacts they keep in boxes that could destroy solar systems and obliterate humanity.”

Robin nodded, not sure where Jeff was going with this.

“Alterra could not receive such a power. It is not for them, not for us. The wars that would be started over this kind of power...” He shook his head. “The Architect must be contained. His technology and mind were not made for humans to comprehend. I wish to harness him so this power is inaccessible to none but myself. I would keep it in regulation. Shield this planet, and all the others that they own. Attack those who try to steal it.”

Robin was in disbelief. “You think anyone would go mad with power except for yourself? You already have!”

He scowled a bit. “You and I will have to keep this secret, contain this energy-”

“ _Woah woah woah,_ hold up. You think I'm just gonna stay here, on this planet with the shield up, _forever?!_ ”

He seemed stunned. “You would return to Alterra after all this?!”

She pursed her lips. Maxim was still on the line. “There are no sides here. Or at least, there shouldn't be. I'm not siding with Alterra over you because that's not a side I can take. You want to keep everything secret and hidden away, but all I want to do is tell everyone! People deserve to know about the Architect. We need diplomacy, and alliances, not this weird obsessive secret-keeping.”

He was glaring now. “Humanity isn't ready. It's no wonder we've been opposing each other – we're on opposite sides anyway. I had assumed that your harboring of the Architect had meant you were with me,” he took a deep breath, “but you aren't. You're against me.”

“I _just_ said there are no sides here! The Architect is my friend, I'm not going to enslave him-”

“He would not be a slave, he would be a prisoner-”

“Oh, because that's _so much better,_ I'm sure Al-an wouldn't mind at all!”

Jevov looked like he might attack her in a fit of rage.

Robin drew a rock out of her pocket. She tossed it out onto the ice.

Jeff turned his head to look.

When it came to attacking people in a fit of rage, Robin decided to beat him to the punch.

\-------

Maxim hadn't quite grasped the concept of Robin and Jevov not working together.

It made perfect sense – they were both linguists speaking the Architect language, stranded together on this planet doing shady things involving said Architect. Jevov even called her out on it in his message to them.

He had started to get that they might not even be friends during their conversation.

He _really_ got the point when Robin threw the first punch.

Suddenly they were full-on attacking each other, wrestling and throwing and hitting. Robin managed to grab him by the waist and toss him off the glacier onto the ice, where he landed with a painful-sounding _thud._ She tossed the ladder down with him so he couldn't get back up. Then she started throwing her rocks, snowballs, icicles, and fruits at him, without end. She kept missing him, however.

“Robin! Enough!” Maxim jumped out of hiding to shout.

Jeff's head shot up to look at him, and his eyes widened. He turned to Robin, “You _are_ working with them!”

She just continued throwing things.

“Hey- you missed!” Jeff started taunting, dodging her projectiles.

“Did I?”

Jeff raised an eyebrow.

His face went pale all of a sudden. There was movement under the ice.

Maxim remembered where they were.

Jevov leaped to the side very suddenly as the Ice Worm shot out of the ground with a shriek, drawn by the constant vibrations in the ice that Robin and Jeff had caused. It struck the glacier, sending Jeff's ship, a volley of snow, and Robin to come crashing down.

She caught herself and lunged at Jeff, who dodged to the side. That was a mistake, as it put him between Robin and the ice.

The next time she lunged was with her thermoblade in hand, which Jevov had to desperately parry away. It sunk into the thick ice with ease, and the only reason Robin didn't swing again was because the Ice Worm struck at them, forcing the two apart.

“Jesus Christ, Robin!” Max shouted in a panic, “Are you _trying_ to add attempted murder to your charges!?”

“ _No,_ ” Robin growled as she stood again, “I'm trying to add _murder_ to my charges!”

Max went pale as Jeff nodded. “I suppose there can only be one...”

_Okay, time to start intervening!_

He gestured the marine over, and after steeling himself, he ran across the ice towards them. Jeff had pulled out his own survival knife and Robin had picked up a long icicle to fend him off with.

The Ice Worm sunk back under the ice. He hoped the fight between Jeff and Robin was more interesting than the sprinting steps of him and his marine, because they couldn't afford to stop.

Maxim had originally been planning to go for Robin, but watching her throw the icicle at Jevov like a javelin? Changed his mind, very quickly.

The marine tackled Robin to the ground and cuffed her easily. To Max's surprise, she seemed to comply, not fighting an arrest.

Maxim wished he'd gone for Robin as he tried to contain Jeff's fury, as he struggled and screamed. The marine left Robin where she was to help Max with Jevov's stubborn refusal.

Maxim glared at the two handcuffed criminals. A bruise was forming on Jevov's cheek, and he was sure that his back was pretty messed up from the fall as well. Robin had a cut near her eye from a bit of ice, and a fat lip.

“Well? Are you happy now? Everything settled?”

Jeff glared at him. Robin smiled at him.

Both of their faces fell very suddenly and gave way to fear.

Robin tried to move her hands.

“Hey! No-”

“Freeze.”

Maxim and the marine froze. The doctor who'd started to make her way over to attend their injuries froze. Jeff froze. Robin was very still.

“Throw something. Quickly...”

He could see the shape moving under the ice. His hands were shaking as he took a twig from his pocket and threw it hard.

It was so quiet. He wasn't really sure why; the Ice Worm couldn't hear their voices, only their footsteps.

The creature rose up with a shriek and everyone turned and ran for the entrance.

A glance behind him showed Robin up on her feet, but Jevov struggling – likely due to the pain in his back. A series of emotions crossed Robin's face before she landed on begrudging acceptance, hauling Jeff to his feet to the best of her abilities.

He looked at her, surprised.

“אני לא ישאיר אותך מאחור.”

Maxim had _no idea_ what Robin had just said, but it seemed to mean something to Jevov.

They all ran together.

\-------

“Do I even want to know what happened to you?”

Robin smiled at Sam. “You should see the other guy.”

“Yes Robin, I see Jevov. Why?”

“In my defense, he started it.”

“You threw the first punch,” Jeff added while his wounds were being tended to.

“Yes, because you were being an asshole.”

Sam just sighed heavily. Every day on this planet had been a long one.

“Alright!” shouted Maxim to draw everyone's attention.

The days definitely wouldn't be getting any shorter.

“Now that we have both fugitives...” he paused for dramatic effect, “...we can finally obtain the Architect!”

Silence.

Maxim scowled like he'd been expecting cheers. “What? It's only in a sanctuary a few hundred meters from here!”

More silence.

“...When we get it, we can finally head back to the Vesper-”

His words were overtaken by countless cheers, Sam's included. He smiled at the success.

“It's not at the sanctuary, director.” Said Jeff.

Everyone turned to him. Robin glared.

“And why should I believe you? We make for Sanctuary Zero at dawn!”

Everyone murmured amongst each other while Maxim headed off to bed.

“אידיוט.”

Robin gave a short bark of a laugh at Jeff while Sam raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Robin, how many languages do you speak again?”

Her sister smiled. “Counting Architect? Twelve.”

Her eyes widened. “Was that Architect?”

“Yeah! Sounds cool, right? It's related to Hebrew, since the Architects have been to Earth before, when they arrived some humans copied their language before they left again. It's why a PDA can do a rough translation in an emergency! Isn't that cool?”

Sam smiled at her sister's enthusiasm, but was a little concerned that she and Jeff could speak a language that nobody else could understand. “Is the Architect really not there?”

Jeff and Robin both answered with dissonance: Jeff said yes while Robin said no.

Sam sighed again. She'd been doing that a lot recently. “I guess we'll find out tomorrow...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can run the Architect speak in google translate for Hebrew and it SHOULD translate to the actual sentences I wrote, but in case it doesn't:
> 
> Robin says "I won't leave you behind," and Jevov just says "Idiot."
> 
> Now time for my essay/powerpoint presentation: Robin's Personality, a.k.a. Why Robin Would Absolutely Throw Hands.
> 
> The story for the original Subnautica is very un-guided, basically letting you do whatever you want. It's difficult to describe, but because there's nobody to give you quests or anything, it's hard to tell anything about Ryley Robinson; he doesn't even speak. The most character you can get from him that doesn't involve you as the player doing something, is when he punches the little needle thing in the gun platform.
> 
> And then we have Robin.
> 
> Robin has a lot of people to talk to, that she responds to! We've got Al-an, Sam, Jeff, Maxim (for the older-old story, that is), Maida and the Sea Emperor. 
> 
> On top of that, Robin responds differently to certain situations than Ryley does.
> 
> If you get attacked by a Reaper Leviathan outside a vehicle in Subautica, there's an animation where you get caught and die.
> 
> Robin has a lot more animations for the things that attack her...
> 
> AND SHE FIGHTS BACK AGAINST ALL OF THEM.
> 
> Punch a Shadow Leviathan in the mouth! Kick a Squidshark! Slam your fists against a Chelicerate! Robin fights with zero input from you as the player.
> 
> And then of course, there's Al-an and the way she handles that.
> 
> Pre-Frostbite? Robin THREATENS AL-AN. Both in the old story and the older-old story, she straight-up antagonizes him! 
> 
> And guess what? The ancient all-powerful alien architect is ACTUALLY THREATENED BY THIS, straight up shutting down in a panic in the older-old story.
> 
> Something else to consider is that in the original Subnautica we know that there is an exercise routine for Alterra people, even if they're just janitors, and by spending just one day swimming on 4546B you can go over the limit by up to 600%.
> 
> For the purpose of this story, Robin's been on the planet for two months. SHE IS RIPPED.
> 
> Conclusion: Robin Is A Top And She Could Kick Your Ass. Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.

**Author's Note:**

> So the story for Below Zero is being completely redone to the point that Robin and Sam's last names have been changed. I'm sure I'll love both stories with all my heart, so here's my tribute to the old story. Lemme know if you need/want something else tagged. Comments are appreciated, but I have trouble thinking of replies to them so just know that if you wrote a comment I went "!!!!!!thank you!!!!!"


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